Digester apparatus



`Ian. 2,-'l940. J FLETCHER 2,185,962

DIGESTER APPARATUS Filed Jar 1. 25, 1937 2 Sheets-Sheet James Flecher a&

ATTORNEY.

.Fan. 2, 1940.

J. FLETCHER I 2,1'85,962

DIGESTER APPARATUS Filed Jan. 2:5, 1937 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR. JamesF/ezfcher Patented Jan. 2, 1940 DIGESTER APPARAT'US James Fletcher,Akron, Ohio, assignor to The Babcock & Wilcox Company, Newark, N. J., acorporation of New Jersey Application January 23, 1937, Serial No.121,9l6

11 Claims.

This invention relates to material handling devices and has referencemore particularly to improved mechanism for feeding chips to digesters,and distributing the chips therein. The general object of the inventionis to provide apparatus whereby chips may be uniformly delivered to adistributor which stratifies the deposited chips within the digester sothat improved results as to yield and quality of the pulp may beobtained in distributor in a supply which was uniform over' the activesurfaces of the distributor. It is an object of the invention toovercome these difilcul- -ties, and to that end the inventioncontemplates a feeding mechanism in which a conical feed regulator maybe tilted at any one of several circumferential positions in order tovary the eccentricity and size of the feeder discharge opening on'difierent sides of the feedex 80 Other objects of the invention willappear as the description proceeds, and the invention will be describedwith reference to the attached drawings, in which:

Fig. 1 is mainly a vertical section, indicating a 86 chip feedingmechanism operatively associated with the charging port of a digester.

Fig. 2 is a View in the nature of a horizontal section taken on the line2--2 of Fig. 1. y

Fig. 3 is'a detailed View in the nature of a vertical section showingone of the circumferentially spaced devices for tilting the conical feedregulator.

Fig. 4 is a View in the nature of a horizontal section taken on the line4-4 of Fig. 3.

Fig. 1 of the drawings shows the chip handling apparatus as it isarranged when the digester o is being filled with chips from a bunkerwhich is located above the hopper l2. .The chips are fed from the hopperl2 by a feeder which may be driven by an electric motor !4. They aredischarged from the eeder downwardly through a removable sub-hopper IStemporarily positioned in 'the charging port |8 of the digester o. Afterpassing through the charging port of the digester i! they are engaged bya distributor 20 which uniformly distributes the chips within thedigester 24 are journaled. The latter are arranged to" run upon elevatedtracks 26. -With this arrangement of elements, the chip handling devicesmay be readily moved from one digester to another.

Secured to the framework,22 is a funnel-shaped base 28 which is 'shownas supporting the hopper |2 and the motor I4. The latter operates aconical feeder 30 mounted upon an upright shaft 32 which is journaled inbearings carried by the inwardly extending radial arms 34 of the base28. The Operating connections between the shaft 32 and the motor l4include a shaft 36 journaled horizontally within the base 28,as shown,the beveled gears 38', 40, andvthe drive shaft coupling 42.

In order that the annular flow of chips from the feeding mechanism maybe uniform, and to compensate for variations in the' flow of chips fromdifferent bunkers to the feeding mechanism, a conical feed regulator 44is mounted within the hopper l2. to be tilted to provide an eccentricdischarge opening around the feeder 30. As shown, it may be tilted atany one of three positions which are uniformly circumferentially spacedabout the base 28. At each of these positions, the base 28 is formedwith an outwardly extending housing 50, as indicated in Figs. 2, 3, and4. Within each portion 50 acrank arm 52 is mounted upon an adjustingbolt 54 which extends through the opposite walls of the housing 50. .Themld-por- This .feed regulator is arranged i tion of each bolt ispolygonal in cross section tas clearly indicated in Figs. 3 and 4, andthe arm 52 is formed with a similarly shaped opening so that it' isnon-rotatably fixed upon the bolt.

Beneath the head 54 of each bolt is mounted a sleeve 58 which has itscircumferential fiange 60 adapted to bear against one of the walls ofthe portion 54. A similar sleeve 62 bears against the opposite wall 64of the portion 50 and is directly engaged by a nut 66. The tightening ofthis nut will bind the entire bolt structure rigidily against the wallsof the portions 50 and maintain the bolt fixed against rotation relativeto the base 28.

Each arm 52 is pivotally connected at its upper end with an upwardly andoutwardly extending link 10 pivoted at its upp`er end to a downwardlyextending lug 12 fixed with reference to the lower surface of the feedregulator 44. With this arrangement of elements the feed`'egulator maybe tilted at any one of a selected number of positions in order toprovide an eccentric discharge opening compensating for variations inthe flow chips from bunkers positioned above the chip feeding mechanism.

The chip distributor 28 is journaled within the charging port |8 by aspider 80 temporarily positioned in seats 82 provided in the chargingport sleeve 84, and the shaft of the distributor is operativelyconnected to the shaft 32 by a .coupling sleeve 88 and a universal joint90 between which the drive shaft 82 is positioned After one digester isfilled the chip feeding mechanism is moved along the tracks to anotherdigester, the sleeve 86 and the universal joint 88 allowing the shaft 32to become diseonnected from the distributor. Thereafter the liftingdevice including the drum 94, the handwheel 88 and the cable 98, may beemployed to raise the distributor and the sub-hopper IS from theiroperative positions in the charging port !8.

I claim:

1. In combination with a chip distributing mechanism for digesters, ahopper, a rotatable chip feeder in the hopper, and a tiltable feedregulator adjustably secured to the hopper and positioned around thefeeder.

2. A chip feeding mechanism for digesters comprising, a hopper, asubstantially conical chip' feeding 'device centrally positioned nearthe hopper outlet, means for continuously rotating said chip feedingdevice to cause chips to be discharged from the hopper, and a tiltableconical feed regulator co-operating with said device to provide anannular but eccentric chip discharge opening between said device and theregulator.

3. A chip feeder including a tiltable conical feed regulator and arotating feeder element within the regulator.

4. A chip feeder having a conical feed regulator and a rotating feederelement within the regulator and co-operating therewith to form aneccentric and annular discharge opening.

5. A chip feeder for digester chip distrlbutors including, a hopper, arotary feeding element in the hopper, means for continuously rotatingsaid element to discharge chips from the hopper, a conical feedregulator encompassing said element, and means for tilting the feedregulator toward any one of a plurality of positions to provide aneccentric and annular discharge opening between said feeding element andthe 6 regulator.

- 6. In material feeding apparatus, a hopper receiving material instreams varying in their direction of flow, a rotating feeder within thehopper, a feed regulator extending around the feeder and forming anannular discharge opening therewith, and means spaced about the feederfor tilting the feed regulator at any one of a plurality of positionsdependent upon the direction of 'approach of the stream of materialdischarging into the hopper.

7. In chip feeding mechanism, a hopper, a feeder in the hopper, aconical feed regulator about the feeder, and means for tilting the feedregulator at any one of several positions spaced circumferentiallyrelative to .the feeder and the regulator.

8. A chip distributor for digesters comprising, in combination, acarriage adapted to be portably supported at an elevation above thecharging opening of the digester, a chip directing 'hopper mounted onthe carriage, a rotating chip feeder mounted centrally of the dischargeopening of the hopper, means for driving said feeder, and afunnel-shaped feed regulator disposed around said feeder, and means fortilting the feed reg-. ulator with reference to the feeder.

9. In combination with a digester and a chip distributor, a chipdirecting hopper arranged above the charging opening of the digester, arotating chip feeding and guiding member mounted near the outlet of thehopper, and a funnel-shaped feed regulator tiltably mounted around saidchip feeding guide member.

10. A chip feeding mechanism for digesters, comprising, in combination,a hopper adaptd to be portably mounted at an elevation above thecharging opening of the digester, a rotating chip feeding member mountedcentrally of the discharge opening of the hopper, a feed regulatorextending around said member and co-operating therewith to form adownwardly contracting passage through 'which chips are uniformlydistributed into the charging opening of the. digester, and means toadjust the feed regulator.

11. A chip feeding regulator for digesters ini cluding a hopper, arotating feeding member' mounted in the outlet of the hopper, a feedregulator in the form of the surface of a frustrum of an inverted conepositioned around said member so as to present a hopper dischargeopening circumscribing the feeding member, and means to adjust the feedregulator.

JAMES FLETCHER.

